1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of configuring information handling systems, and more particularly to a system and method for remote configuration of RAID information handling systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Although the wide variety of hardware and software configurations available for information handling systems provides consumers with great flexibility to meet desired information processing needs, the proper configuration of these various types of information handling systems by manufacturers often presents a complex task. In the information handling system client sector, manufacturers typically rely on image-based deployment products to ensure proper configuration of information handling systems. Image-based deployments copy an image of properly configured operating system and application software to permanent memory of an information handling system, such as a hard disc drive, so that the information handling system operates correctly when initially powered up without the delays generally associated with software configuration. However, image-based software deployment to servers is less mature than with clients, particularly with specialized servers, such as RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) information handling systems.
RAID information handling systems are generally configured in different types of RAID implementations that are each enabled with a variety of hardware and software component configurations. Successful imaging of a RAID drive is dependent on the specific computer model, driver controller, hard drive and RAID implementation so that preparation and loading of a particular configuration on a RAID server information handling system is generally performed at a RAID server using vendor-specific deployment products. Local deployment of RAID configurations with vendor specific applications generally restricts incorporation of manufacture of RAID servers with other types of information handling systems. For instance, due to the complexity of RAID deployment utilities and the variety of hardware generally used for RAID drives, deployment software vendors typically do not integrate RAID utilities into their deployment applications, instead generally providing a hook to third party components to implement RAID features or assuming that target systems are in a desired RAID configuration before software deployment. One example is a deployment application which configures RAID drives with scripts. Another example is an application which implements code that allows users to write RAID modules on a management server that, in turn, downloads the modules to a target RAID server to perform a RAID configuration task for each module. These types of vendor specific deployment applications fail to provide a seamless solution to integrate RAID configuration tools to a deployment environment.